The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) (Persian: سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی‎, Sepâh-e Pâsdârân-e Enghelâb-e Eslâmi, 'Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution' or Sepâh for short) is a branch of Iran's Armed Forces founded after 1979 Revolution on 22 April 1979 by order of Ayatollah Khomeini. Whereas the regular military (or Artesh) defends Iran's borders and maintains internal order, according to the Iranian constitution, the Revolutionary Guard (pasdaran) is intended to protect the country's Islamic Republic system.The Revolutionary Guards state that their role in protecting the Islamic system is preventing foreign interference as well as coups by the military or "deviant movements".The Revolutionary Guards have roughly 125,000 military personnel including ground, aerospace and naval forces. Its naval forces are now the primary forces tasked with operational control of the Persian Gulf. It also controls the paramilitary Basij militia which has about 90,000 active personnel. Its media arm is Sepah News.